


Infallible

by Melina



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV), All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness
Genre: F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Missing Scene, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-10-16 22:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 561
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20610617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melina/pseuds/Melina
Summary: "It's not very... Catholic."





	Infallible

**Author's Note:**

> This is a missing scene from A Discovery of Witches (the book), near the beginning of Chapter 37. If you haven't read the book, this is almost certainly spoilery for things to come in season 2 and beyond.

The house was crowded, and I wanted a moment alone with him. After dinner, we slipped outside for a walk. As we approached the old oak, I slowed, tracing my fingers over my mother's initials.

"What's on your mind, Diana?" he asked mildly. 

I smiled to myself; of course he knew I was preoccupied. "Does it bother you?" I asked him, finally voicing what was on my mind.

"Does what bother me?" 

"The birth control pills," I said. He shook his head slightly, not understanding. "It's not very...Catholic."

He smiled and looked away, and then took me in his arms, kissing the top of my head. "Is that what's bothering you? You needn't worry."

"I know your religion means a great deal to you," I started, trying to find the right words.

"Diana." Our eyes met, and he took my hand in his. "My faith does mean a great deal to me, and so does the Church. But the Church I love is one of simple chapels, not great cathedrals. It's about caring for others and loving God, not bureaucracy and Prada footwear." He looked away, his expression sad, before turning back to me. "I love the mass, the sacraments, the closeness I feel with God. That's what the Church is to me, not outdated doctrine about matters like birth control." He nodded toward the house. "Or same-sex marriage."

The historian in me couldn't quite manage to leave well enough alone. "So...the idea that the Pope is infallible?" I asked.

"_Ex cathedra_ wasn't articulated until well into the middle ages, and it wasn't codified until the 19th century. I was quite happy with my faith as it was before one group of men decided another man could do no wrong." He looked down, his expression serious. "I fought in the Crusades, Diana. I was in Jerusalem in 1099, at Hattin in 1187. I already knew that popes weren't perfect."

I held his hand, listening and taking in his words. I could only imagine the horrors he'd seen, all in the name of God and Church. The Church was the oldest institution in the world. Some of what it had accomplished was great, and some of what it had done, by commission or omission, was truly awful.

Matthew seemed to mirror my thoughts. "The Church as an institution is like any other. Flawed, self-interested, worried about its survival. It's run by men, not God. The horror stories in the news over the past few years certainly prove that, if it wasn't evident already," he said.

He turned back to me, kissing my wrist before meeting my eyes again. "When it comes to you, to your well-being, I have no interest in what the Church or anyone else thinks. That's -- that's our responsibility." He folded me into his arms, and I smiled, knowing perfectly well he'd almost said _my responsibility_. At least he was trying to temper his overprotective tendencies. 

That was really all I could ask, wasn't it? 

Nobody, after all, was perfect.

He stole another kiss, and then he slipped his arm around my shoulders as we headed back to the house. 

> _"Matthew?" Philippe sounded incredulous. "He has less faith than anyone I have ever known. All he possesses is belief, which is quite different and depends on the head rather than the heart."_
>
>> \-- _Shadow of Night_, Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to see if I could harmonize, at least for myself, Matthew's Catholicism with his apparent lack of caring about certain aspects of Church doctrine, like the ones mentioned in this story.
> 
> The other reason is that I've been obsessed by the quote of Philippe's at the end since I first read it, and I'm still trying to work out which of them is right -- does Matthew have faith, or just belief? Or are they both right, or wrong? I'm still thinking about it.


End file.
